If TSHTF then you probably want a rifle and to not be anywhere near DC, but for an inexpensive reliable handgun I'd consider a Taurus .357 revolver. I've had a model 617 for years and it's a solid gun.

First, the bad news. When it comes to things that could save your life, you will always get what you paid for. A pistol is a tool that if it comes to be needed, MUST function properly and without fail. The worst thing you could possibly do, is to purchase a "Saturday Night Special." Say the SHTF and suddenly the local MS-13 block captain comes around to liberate you of any foodstuffs you happen to have on hand. Feeling secure in your home and being armed, you raise your pistol to his head and <click>. You would have been better off without a pistol at all.

Now for the good news. Razmear is exactly right. A .357 revolver is inexpensive and reliable. You can load .357 Magnums for self defense, or you can load .38 Special wadcutters for target shooting (and thus save a LOT of money) and practice.

The best weapon yet for self defense in urban areas is a shotgun. Being in a home/townhome/apartment will determine your loads, of course. If you are in dense apartments you don't want 00 buckshot or a miss could land you a manslaughter charge for the fella next door. You never want something as light as birdshot either. If you are talking about defense within the home, or for protecting yourself while moving out of the city AFTER TSHTF, I'd reccommend the shortest LEGAL (not sawed off) shotgun, either pump action or semiauto, in 12 guage, preferably with a muzzle choke. I'd put a priority on that before a pistol.

A pistol is really a backup, a weapon you can use from a vehicle (It is awful hard to swing a rifle or a shotgun around inside of a car), something you carry unobstrusively while conducting other business, or something you conceal so that people do not know you are armed. One benefit to having a pistol for home defense over having a shotgun, is that a pistol is easier to leave within arms reach than a shotgun.

My primary weapons are a 12 guage shotgun, a 30-06 bolt action rifle, and a 5.56mm AR-15. I do have a small pistol, but to my mind it's major function is to fight my way back to wherever my primary weapons are (if I am not already by them).

Also, the advice to get away from dense urban environments is awfully good advice. When I was just in DC, we camped not 35 minutes or so away, and it was nothing but woods and rural area as far as the eye could see. You could still maintain your current job but live away from the dense population centers by commuting (sucks, yes, but if the balloon DOES go up, a city apartment is NOT a good place to be!).

So prioritizing in order:

1a) 12 guage shotgun, pump action, as short barrelled as the law allows from the manufacturer! do not under any circumstances saw off your own barrel

1b) Stock up on 12gu shells

2a) Relocating to an environment where you will not be trapped in an urban apartment should TSHTF

2b) Stocking up on ultra-long shelf life storage food

3a) .357 Magnum revolver

3b) Stocking up on .357 Magnum rounds for defense, and especially .38 Special rounds for practice (You should shoot a LOT LOT LOT more in practice than in any kind of defense)

4) some common calibre rifle accurate to at least 400 yards

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First, the bad news. When it comes to things that could save your life, you will always get what you paid for. A pistol is a tool that if it comes to be needed, MUST function properly and without fail. The worst thing you could possibly do, is to purchase a "Saturday Night Special." Say the SHTF and suddenly the local MS-13 block captain comes around to liberate you of any foodstuffs you happen to have on hand. Feeling secure in your home and being armed, you raise your pistol to his head and <click>. You would have been better off without a pistol at all.

Now for the good news. Razmear is exactly right. A .357 revolver is inexpensive and reliable. You can load .357 Magnums for self defense, or you can load .38 Special wadcutters for target shooting (and thus save a LOT of money) and practice.

The best weapon yet for self defense in urban areas is a shotgun. Being in a home/townhome/apartment will determine your loads, of course. If you are in dense apartments you don't want 00 buckshot or a miss could land you a manslaughter charge for the fella next door. You never want something as light as birdshot either. If you are talking about defense within the home, or for protecting yourself while moving out of the city AFTER TSHTF, I'd reccommend the shortest LEGAL (not sawed off) shotgun, either pump action or semiauto, in 12 guage, preferably with a muzzle choke. I'd put a priority on that before a pistol.

A pistol is really a backup, a weapon you can use from a vehicle (It is awful hard to swing a rifle or a shotgun around inside of a car), something you carry unobstrusively while conducting other business, or something you conceal so that people do not know you are armed. One benefit to having a pistol for home defense over having a shotgun, is that a pistol is easier to leave within arms reach than a shotgun.

My primary weapons are a 12 guage shotgun, a 30-06 bolt action rifle, and a 5.56mm AR-15. I do have a small pistol, but to my mind it's major function is to fight my way back to wherever my primary weapons are (if I am not already by them).

Also, the advice to get away from dense urban environments is awfully good advice. When I was just in DC, we camped not 35 minutes or so away, and it was nothing but woods and rural area as far as the eye could see. You could still maintain your current job but live away from the dense population centers by commuting (sucks, yes, but if the balloon DOES go up, a city apartment is NOT a good place to be!).

So prioritizing in order:

1a) 12 guage shotgun, pump action, as short barrelled as the law allows from the manufacturer! do not under any circumstances saw off your own barrel

1b) Stock up on 12gu shells

2a) Relocating to an environment where you will not be trapped in an urban apartment should TSHTF

2b) Stocking up on ultra-long shelf life storage food

3a) .357 Magnum revolver

3b) Stocking up on .357 Magnum rounds for defense, and especially .38 Special rounds for practice (You should shoot a LOT LOT LOT more in practice than in any kind of defense)

I'm quite aware of that, which is why I agreed with the .357 Taurus as a good choice.

There is a difference between inexpensive and cheap. The .357 Taurus is inexpensive, your basic Saturday Night Special is cheap. never never never trust your life on cheap.

You are better off without a pistol than you are with a cheap pistol. If you have no pistol and the local gang captain comes into your apartment to scrounge food etc, chances are you will survive. I mean, even the black market needs customers, right? If you have a cheap pistol and try to defend yourself, chances are pretty good it fails or misses, and then you die. Probably horribly.

The OP apparently has the right idea anyway simply because he used the word inexpensive rather than cheap, but I just wanted to stress the importance of it.

There are a few places where you never, never skimp. Combat gear is one of them. The last thing you need when your life and other lives are on the line, is a gear failure.

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I'm quite aware of that, which is why I agreed with the .357 Taurus as a good choice.

There is a difference between inexpensive and cheap. The .357 Taurus is inexpensive, your basic Saturday Night Special is cheap. never never never trust your life on cheap.

You are better off without a pistol than you are with a cheap pistol. If you have no pistol and the local gang captain comes into your apartment to scrounge food etc, chances are you will survive. I mean, even the black market needs customers, right? If you have a cheap pistol and try to defend yourself, chances are pretty good it fails or misses, and then you die. Probably horribly.

The OP apparently has the right idea anyway simply because he used the word inexpensive rather than cheap, but I just wanted to stress the importance of it.

There are a few places where you never, never skimp. Combat gear is one of them. The last thing you need when your life and other lives are on the line, is a gear failure.

I'm saving up for a S&W M&P .40 as we speak. I also have a very concealable Walther P32 circa 1950 (PPK) that's about as reliable as the sunrise.

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

12 Gauge like a Mossberg Pump if you can swing a rifle. Plus if you have kids it is more difficult to have an accident with a rifle. Not impossible. But more difficult. People naturally can pick up a handgun easier.

12 Gauge like a Mossberg Pump if you can swing a rifle. Plus if you have kids it is more difficult to have an accident with a rifle. Not impossible. But more difficult. People naturally can pick up a handgun easier.

i have a M&P 40 i picked it up and it just felt right, ive only ran about 45 rds thru it so far. I did pick up a 100rd box of fmj to go through. hopefully next weekend

i bought an inexpensive High point 9mm at 160$ it has shot reliably it is now regulated to car carry back up.

im waiting on my extra mags for my M&P. I also need to pick up a mag holder so i can carry an extra 15 with me in addition to the 16 in the gun

There are some decent holsters that incorporate extra mag holders; but I am currently focussing on filling my tactical vest. I have my 12 mags full for the AR in the vest; but now I have 6 empty slots for pistol mags, which means that I simply will not be able to rest until I have my M&P 40 plus 6 extra mags so I can fill all the empty slots in my vest.

No I can't imagine ever needing SIX frelling mags for a pistol, but just something about having empty mag pockets in a tac vest irks me.... heh.

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Agreed.
I have a Mossberg 500 with an 18.5 inch barrel for home defense loaded with 00 Buck.
In addition to my two .357's (Taurus 617 & S&W 686+, both 7 shot revolvers) I have an older Rossi .357 lever action rifle that is dead on accurate and because it uses the same ammo as my handguns it gives me another defense/hunting option if ammo starts getting tight. Just something else you might want to consider when choosing a combo of guns and ammo.
Also in the arsenal are a couple of SKS's, a .22 rifle, .22 pistol, and a circa 1912 Steyr Mauser in 7.62x59.

Agreed.
I have a Mossberg 500 with an 18.5 inch barrel for home defense loaded with 00 Buck.
In addition to my two .357's (Taurus 617 & S&W 686+, both 7 shot revolvers) I have an older Rossi .357 lever action rifle that is dead on accurate and because it uses the same ammo as my handguns it gives me another defense/hunting option if ammo starts getting tight. Just something else you might want to consider when choosing a combo of guns and ammo.
Also in the arsenal are a couple of SKS's, a .22 rifle, .22 pistol, and a circa 1912 Steyr Mauser in 7.62x59.

eb

I was extremely fortunate to have inherited 2 semiautomatic shotguns from my Grandfather, who used to shoot competitively. The 16 gauge Browning Sweet 16 that my Grandmother shot (they used to compete as a couple) complete with a bizarre 1950's era "red dot" sight (something like a mid 20th century version of an EOTech); and the 12 gauge Franchi Brescia that my Grandfater shot.

Sweet Sixteen:
(Best I can do is this image, can't find any reviews offhand):

The bizarre red dot scope on the Browning Sweet Sixteen is a Weaver Qwik-Point S-1 that I cannot find images of at all. Trust me though, it's weird. ;-)

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn